New York, NY - Drug-eluting stents (DES) and late stent thrombosis proved to be the most popular news on theheart.org in 2006, followed by breaking clinical-trial results for bivalirudin, clopidogrel, rosiglitazone, and rosuvastatin. As in other years, most but by no means all of the top stories on theheart.org came from the major cardiology and other specialty meetings.

Since its publication in September, the Guidewire story from the World Congress of Cardiology 2006 in Barcelona—Studies linking drug-eluting stents to increased mortality/MI spark impassioned pleas for reason and calls for calm—has received the most page hits of any story in theheart.org's history. This story covered the two European meta-analyses and Bern-Rotterdam registry data that, on top of other emerging data, prompted the FDA to announce an advisory panel review of DES safety; stories from the FDA hearing itself were also some of the most-read stories of the year. heartwire's coverage of the BASKET-LATE trial—the first randomized study to show an increased risk of stent thrombosis after stopping clopidogrel—presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2006 Scientific Sessions, became the second major story of the year. The Guidewire feature examining how next-generation DES are tackling the shortcomings of Cypher and Taxus—the third most popular story of 2006—suggests that theheart.org's readers are hoping future devices will dispense, in time, with some of the news-making adverse events that have kept DES in the headlines.

For general cardiology news, the top stories of 2006 on theheart.org were CHARISMA: No benefit of long-term clopidogrel in stable disease; heartwire's coverage of the British guideline development group's decision to omit beta blockers for routine use in the new UK hypertension guidelines; the Pfizer-backed SHAPE task-force's call for blanket screening with CT and carotid ultrasound; and ACUITY: Bivalirudin preferential to heparin plus GP IIb/IIIa blocker in ACS patients heading to the cath lab early.

In the Cardiometabolic Risk corner, atherosclerosis, body fat, and diabetes dominated the most-read news of 2006. One of the most popular stories of the year was ASTEROID lands with a bang: High-dose rosuvastatin regresses coronary atherosclerosis from the ACC 2006 meeting. Also in the top-read stories was A late summer's night DREAM: Rosiglitazone, but not ramipril, to prevent progression to diabetes, reported by heartwire at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

In the Heart Failure arena, readers followed the emerging data on "diastolic" heart failure; in particular heartwire's coverage of several New England Journal of Medicine studies showing that mortality risk with diastolic heart failure is similar to that of systolic heart failure was one of the top heart-failure stories of the year. From the meetings, heartwire's story on the UNLOAD trial results, presented at the ACC 2006 meeting and showing fewer rehospitalizations after peripheral ultrafiltration as compared with diuretics, was also popular.

While one basic-science study made it onto this year's most-read list—Substance found that can prolong healthy life in mice—theheart.org readers also betrayed an interest in softer news. Among the Murmurs appearing on theheart.org in 2006, the Dr Jay Yadav conflict-of-interest story, as well as the news of Dr Campbell Rogers joining Cordis, were top stories this year. Among the MediaPulse stories, which alert readers to important cardiology stories in the mainstream press, Dr Eric Topol's departure from the Cleveland Clinic was also widely read.

Not surprisingly, many of the most controversial or practice-changing studies that became top stories on heartwire in 2006 also sparked a flurry of opinions in theheart.org's forum. The DES coverage from Barcelona prompted one of the longest discussions in the forum's history, while other highly popular stories, including ACUITY and the SHAPE screening recommendations, resonated with forum readers. Other, apparently less-popular, heartwire stories appeared to incite storms in the forum that took on a life of their own: among them, the decision by New York City to ban trans fats and a story comparing the merits of MRI and CT. But some of the most lively forum discussions of 2006 were actually launched not by a story, but by a single question from a reader, such as whether ICD implantation can be delayed, or how soon surgery is safe, postangioplasty. Forum "blogs" by moderator Dr Melissa Walton-Shirley during the major cardiology meetings have also become incredibly popular: hailed by one forum visitor as: "the most relevant information [delivered] in a concise manner."